Do you know, dear readers, that there are actually people who take time out of their busy lives to come to my blog just to read my pain? Hoping against hope to see failure, not success??? The funny part of that is, of course, that these "haters" look for me at all. That doesn't exactly express hate, does it? More like obsession. At the very least, there's an element of fandom involved. Particularly for those who seek me out years after rejecting me. Yes, you read that right. People who have rejected or discarded me always seem to return. Why? Well, preemptive rejection is the signature move of the deeply insecure. I'm not so sure I'm the loser in that scenario, lol. Guess you all are living with a hearty helping of regret, eh? Poor choices will do that. I know, because I make plenty of them myself, including a few of you.

What's even more ironic? The "haters" look for my failure on a website with my name on it. And, they frequently pour through my blog--all written by me. The very same blog that has well over 1,000,000 readers from 87 countries and counting. How very frustrating that reality must be. For you.

I'm a life-writer. That means, I write about my life. The good, the bad and the ugly. It's part of the creative nonfiction genre. I'm even listed in the Directory of American Poets and Writers for it. In fact, one of my most famous essays was just included in an anthology by Dinty W. Moore, an essayist for publications like The New York Times, as well as the winner of the Grub Street National Book Prize, and, Editor of the well-respected creative nonfiction literary magazine, Brevity. And yes, I've been published there, too. Moore doesn't bother with no-talent hacks. He doesn't have to. Students in college classrooms around the world will be assigned my essay as a teaching tool, including future doctors at medical schools. It's not even a new essay; I wrote it 10 years ago. That means it's a piece of legitimate and authentic substance. It's not a fickle piece based on fads; my words are timeless. As immortal as I am.

In reality, "hate" is derived from love and admiration. Negativity is essentially about jealousy...also known as envy. It is only people who lack gratitude that have attitude. Not exactly brain surgery. More like basic psychology. Haters are textbook. As in, college freshman level. The truly amazing part is that these folks believe themselves somehow clever. But, how clever can you be if you focus on hate instead of love???

People that operate from a place of negative energy look for misery because they are powerless to create joy for themselves in any other way. Haters are weak. Cowards who cower behind the anonymity provided by technology. Except, there's this wonderful feat of software engineering called A-N-A-L-Y-T-I-C-S. You can hide behind a clutch of trees in my backyard and I may not be able to see you. But on the internet, everyone is visible.

Yes, I've lived through some terrible things. But please don't take for granted the most important part of that sentence:

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About the Author

Rebecca Housel, Ph.D., known as "The Pop Culture Professor" (TM), is an international best-selling author and editor in nine languages and 100 countries. Rebecca, listed in the Directory of American Poets & Writers for her work in nonfiction, was nominated by Prevention magazine essayist and best-selling author of The ImmortalLife of HenriettaLacks, Rebecca Skloot, to the National Association of Science Writers for her work on cancer. Rebecca has published with best-selling author of The Accidental Buddhist, Dinty Moore's literary nonfiction journal, Brevity, and with commercial publications like Redbook magazine and online journals like In Media Res. Her recent interviews appear in publications such as the LA Times, Esquire, USA TODAY, The Huffington Post, Inside HigherEd, Woman's World magazine, and Marie Claire as well as on FOX news, and NBC. Former President of the New York College English Association, Housel was a professor in both Atlanta and New York, teaching popular culture, film, creative writing, literature, and medical humanities. Dr. Housel currently works on the Editorial Advisory Boards for the Journal of PopularCulture and the Journal ofAmerican Culture; she has also worked as a reviewer for Syracuse University Press and Thomson Wadsworth. A writer of all genres, Housel has written and published both fiction and nonfiction in over ten books and 398 articles, essays, book chapters, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries.